Microelectromechanical Systems for Nanomechanical Testing: Electrostatic Actuation and Capacitive Sensing for High-Strain-Rate Testing

Experimental Mechanics - There have been relatively few studies on mechanical properties of nanomaterials under high strain rates, mainly due to the lack of capable nanomechanical testing devices....     

Synthesis and Self-Assembly of Mixed-Graft Block Copolymers

Mixed-graft block copolymers (mGBCPs) consist of two or more types of polymeric side chains grafted on a linear backbone in a random, alternating, or pseudo-alternating sequence. They can phase-separate with the backbone serving as the interface of the blocks, and the side chains dominate their self-assembly behavior. mGBCPs are an accessible polymer architecture for exploring the idea of encoding polymer properties through the macromolecular architecture, as there are two distinct structural components that can be tuned: the backbone and the side chains. In this Concept article, the current literature on the synthesis of mGBCPs is reviewed, and the advantages and disadvantages of each synthetic method are noted. The self-assembly of mGBCPs is also discussed where possible. Finally, directions for future research on mGBCP synthesis and self-assembly are suggested.     

基于吸收系数的生脉注射液中聚山梨酯80含量测定新方法

聚山梨酯80又名吐温80，为一种亲水型非离子表面活性剂，是食品、保健品和药品中常用的辅料，作为增溶剂和澄清剂广泛用于中药注射剂。近年来，不良反应的发生使得聚山梨酯80的质量和应用愈加受到重视，有研究认为其加入可能引起注射剂不良反应增加。为避免超量使用，有必要对该辅料的投料加以严格控制。中药注射剂中聚山梨酯80的含量测定是当下研究的热点和难点，可以通过分光光度法、分子排阻-蒸发光散射检测法(SEC-ELSD)、液质联用法(LC-MS)直接测定，也可以水解后法经液相色谱-紫外检测法(HPLC-UV)或气相色谱法(GC)间接测定。但由于聚山梨酯80为聚氧乙烯聚合数目不同的混合物、不同厂家生产的聚山梨酯80化学组分及比例存在较大差异，难以采用统一的转换公式或对照品准确定量。此外，中药注射剂的复杂基质造成的假阳性干扰也对定量提出了挑战。为解决以上问题，以生脉注射液为例，提出基于吸收系数的中药注射剂中聚山梨酯80含量测定新方法。优化检测波长、显色剂种类、液液萃取过程振荡和静置时间，在6个不同品牌仪器上测得聚山梨酯80-硫氰酸钴配合物的吸收系数(E1%_{1 cm})为104.23，相对标准偏差(RSD)为2.08%。生脉注射液稀释10倍后，精密量取供试品溶液1.0 mL，精密加入硫氰酸钴溶液10 mL，二氯甲烷20 mL，涡旋振荡3 min。将混合液移至分液漏斗中，静置30 min，取下层二氯甲烷液，将前1 mL弃去，接收约15 mL，在320 nm处测定吸光度，再根据Lambert-Beer定律，利用获得的吸收系数计算得到聚山梨酯80的含量。方法阴性无干扰，精密度和重复性相对标准偏差均低于3%，平均回收率为98.42%。为进一步验证方法的准确性，分别采用吸收系数法和标准曲线法测定了2个厂家的10批生脉注射液，并与实际投料量比较。配对t检验结果表明，当置信度为95%时，两种方法无显著性差异，吸收系数法测得结果与企业生产中聚山梨酯的实际投料量也无显著性差异。研究采用前人未采用的、灵敏度更高的320 nm为检测波长，显著降低了基质干扰，克服了中药注射剂中聚山梨酯80测定结果与实际投料量难以吻合的问题。吸收系数法无需使用对照品，亦不用制备标准曲线，可为中药注射剂中聚山梨酯80的检查标准提供切实可行的解决方案。所建方法灵敏、准确、快速、简便，为含聚山梨酯80制剂的质量控制提供了关键常数及新的思路。     

General Formation of Macro-/Mesoporous Nanoshells from Interfacial Assembly of Irregular Mesostructured Nanounits

Mesoporous core–shell nanostructures with controllable ultra-large open channels in their nanoshells are of great interest. However, soft template-directed cooperative assembly to mesoporous nanoshells with highly accessible pores larger than 30 nm, or even above 50 nm into macroporous range, remains a significant challenge. Herein we report a general approach for precisely tailored coating of hierarchically macro-/mesoporous polymer and carbon shells, possessing highly accessible radial channels with extremely wide pore size distribution from ca. 10 nm to ca. 200 nm, on diverse functional materials. This strategy creates opportunities to tailor the interfacial assembly of irregular mesostructured nanounits on core materials and generate various core–shell nanomaterials with controllable pore architectures. The obtained Fe,N-doped macro-/mesoporous carbon nanoshells show enhanced electrochemical performance for the oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline condition.     

A study of density in electron-cyclotron-resonance plasma

A theory is developed for the density profile of low temperature plasmas confined by applied magnetic field and an experiment of the electron-cyclotron-resonance (ECR) plasma is conducted to compare the theoretical prediction and experimental measurements. Due to a large electron mobility along the magnetic field, electrons move quickly out of the system, leaving ions behind and building a space charge potential, which leads to the ambipolar diffusion of ions. In a steady-state condition, the plasma generation by ionization of neutral molecules is in balance with plasma loss due to the diffusion, leading to the electron temperature equation, which is expressed in terms of the plasma size, chamber pressure, and the ionization energy and cross section of neutrals. The power balance condition leads to the plasma density equation, which is also expressed in terms of the electron temperature, the input microwave power and the chamber pressure. It is shown that the plasma density increases, reaches its peak and decreases, as the chamber pressure increases from a small value (0.1 mTorr). These simple expressions of electron temperature and density provide a scaling law of ECR plasma in terms of system parameters. After carrying out an experimental observation, it is concluded that the theoretical predictions of the electron temperature and plasma density agree remarkably well with experimental data     

Optimal Planar Interception with Fixed End Conditions: Approximate Solutions

In a previous paper (Ref. 1), an exact solution of the optimal planar interception with fixed end conditions was derived in closed form. The optimal control was expressed as an explicit function of the state variables and two fixed parameters, obtained by solving a set of nonlinear algebraic equations involving elliptic integrals. In order to facilitate the optimal control implementation, the present paper derives a highly accurate simplified solution assuming that the ratio of the pursuer turning radius to the initial range is small. An asymptotic expansion further reduces the computational workload. Construction of a near-optimal open-loop control, based on the approximations, completes the present paper.     

Optic Fiber Interferometer for Absolute Distance Measurement

1.IntroductionAbsolutedistancemeasurementisfarfromanewtopic.However,itisstillafieldstimulatinggreatinterestsnowadaysduetoitSimportantroleinmanufacturingandassembly['J.SincethegreatsuccessachievedbyMichelsonandBenoitwhentheyfirstdevelopedaninterferometertodeterminethestandardmeterintermsofthemonochromaticredcadmiumline,theopticinterferometerhasbeenprovedtobeoneofthemostpreciseandefficientwayindisplacementmeasurementbecauseofitshighdiscriminationandsimplestructure.However,thetraditionalinterfe…